It was to be expected that after the ruin wrought by war and the admission of the Negro to civil rights, the expenses of government would be greater.

But only lack of honesty will account for the extraordinary expenses of the reconstruction governments.

In Alabama and Florida, the running expenses of the state government increased two hundred percent, in Louisiana five hundred percent, and in Arkansas fifteen hundred percent--all this in addition to bond issues.

In South Carolina the one item of public printing, which from 1790 to 1868 cost $609,000, amounted in the years 1868-1876 to $1,326,589.
Corrupt state officials had two ways of getting money--by taxation and by the sale of bonds.

Taxes were everywhere multiplied.